Growth. Adventure. Life. And it's beautiful.
Looking back at the amazing opportunities I've had, they all existed beyond my comfort zone. I find that the more awkward, or difficult the experience was, the more rewarding the outcome.
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| 4AM. |
Awkwardness Level 1:
When I was in hair school I had the serendipitous opportunity to be the assistant, to a designer's assistant, for Toronto's World MasterCard Fashion Week. I remember being very nervous knocking on the hotel door to the designer. They ushered me in and I helped with model castings, and coordination backstage on the day of the show. When the assistant asked if I was also interested in waking up at 4am, on a school day, to style hair for models because they were appearing on Breakfast Television... the obvious answer was absolutely, yes. I was told not to let the designer know that I was still a hair student and I played it cool even though I was so uncool on the inside! I made it to school that day and functioned like a zombie but it was such a worthwhile adventure.
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| Some Inspiring Champs |
Awkwardness Level 2:
In June I attended a 3-day intensive salon industry boot-camp run by Inspiring Champions, partnered with L'Oreal Professional. I sat in a room with my hair heroes, people that I so greatly admire as badass hairstylists and industry leaders. It was humbling to see that no matter the level of experience we had, the desire for personal growth was a common denominator. This course involved approaching strangers, talking about your dreams and failures to said strangers, public speaking, role-playing, number-crunching, stomping on balloons and so much more. By day 1 I was wondering what I got myself into. By day 2 I was exhausted and struggled to finish my assignments. By day 3 I was reluctant to say goodbye to the inspiring mentors that I met.
At one point during this course I was sitting down at an empty table for lunch and suddenly it was filled with L'Oreal's top hair artists discussing their upcoming projects. I felt like I was accidentally seated with the cool kids. One of the hair artists at the table was Matthew Collins [@matthewstylist]. I really admire his work, personality, and ability to educate. I had taken an advanced cutting course with him a few years back when I was fresh out of hair school and quickly discovered I was way out of my element. I appreciated that his approach to teaching was down-to-earth and modern. He emphasized the need to put your work on social media, to focus on the client experience, and to help educate on hair-care and at-home styling.
Although I initially felt like a fish out of water in both of these courses, the knowledge and tools I've obtained are invaluable. I'm continuing to apply those elements to my business and it has been rewarding to see that I'm helping my clients.
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| Beautiful Utah |
As you can probably tell, education and personal growth are so essential to me. I'm very excited to share that I will be venturing beyond my comfort zone again by combining solo travel & education together. I have another hair hero by the name of Stephanie Brinkerhoff [@hairandmakeupbysteph]. You may not know her name but you'd love her work. I'll be making my way to Utah to take a bridal styling class with her because I am a big fan of her work, and so are my clients. At least 95% of the hair styles that my clients request are from Pinterest, and they're of Stephanie's work.
Although I won't know the terrain, the streets, or the people when I land in Utah, I think the adventure scale grossly outweighs the awkwardness scale this time.
I'll be snapping away on Instagram and rambling on Twitter so follow my adventures here: @monstylefile.
Thanks Reader,
Monica
